The present essay started as a study of the Hungarian ‘organic’ architect Imre Makovecz but soon evolved into an investigation of the metamorphoses of organicism in the art and architectural theory of the twentieth century. The essence of organic architecture is often sought in the concept of organic form, which in turn is usually related to Romantic authors. Historians of architecture usuallyThe present essay started as a study of the Hungarian ‘organic’ architect Imre Makovecz but soon evolved into an investigation of the metamorphoses of organicism in the art and architectural theory of the twentieth century. The essence of organic architecture is often sought in the concept of organic form, which in turn is usually related to Romantic authors. Historians of architecture usually construct genealogies that link Frank Lloyd Wright to Emerson or Makovecz to Rudolf Steiner, regarding organicism in architecture as signalling a break with the tradition of classicism. Insofar as organicism is understood as taking nature as a model, there is no idea that would be more fundamental or more pervasive than organicism in Western art and architectural theory. The objective of the essay is to sort out the various ways the phrase ars imitatur naturam relates to the work of Imre Makovecz and the tradition of organic architecture in the twentieth century. It was written neither as a monograph on Makovecz nor a historical study of organicism. Rather, it attempts a philosophical outline of the discourse of organicism with the figure of Makovecz as the point of intersection.…